The thing about searching for a lost item is that it’ll only show up when you’re not consciously thinking about finding it. It’s also likely that you’ll find it in the most random place. This happens to me many a times. Whenever this occurs, I remember my grandma saying, “It’s the ghost that hides our sight from seeing carefully.” While I don’t blame the ghosts, the feeling of something else hiding the item or our sight is palpable.
Say, just a few months ago, I sincerely thought I’d lost the diamond necklace that my mom gave to me. It’s small and unassuming, but the necklace means a lot to me, like an heirloom. I checked a few of my handbags, each and every pocket, and my jewelry boxes too but the necklace remained out of sight. I gave up and tried not to think about it. It was difficult not to do so at first but as weeks passed, my memory finally managed to suppress the thought from my consciousness. I forgot all about the necklace.
A couple of weekends back, as I hung out with my mom and my sis for a tiny reunion, my fingers ran through the pocket of an old handbag of mine. I was searching for a hairclip but guess what I’d found? The diamond necklace. Remember that Sex and the City episode when Carrie Bradshaw ‘accidentally’ finds her treasured 'Carrie' necklace in her Dior purse? It was just like that for me, except I wasn’t in a Parisian museum waiting for my artist boyfriend. But the feeling, I bet, of finding something that you thought you’ve lost forever is the same. It’s a quiet but joyous reunion for both you and the once-lost.
Based on this little theory of stumbling upon something you’ve lost when you least expect it, I now tell myself not to bother finding it when it happens. It’ll show up without you having to do anything. And when you finally find that long-lost something, the joy that comes is unspeakable. Sound familiar? It’s just like love.
